Only Skin Deep
by Manita
Summary: While masquerading as a High School student in Karakura, Renji has an encounter that puts his restlessness into perspective.


**[I had rotten writer's block so I used a Bleach prompt generator and swore I would write at least 100 words of the first Renji pairing that turned up, and use the prompt word. I got Chizuru with the word 'pedicure.' *gulp* But a promise is a promise, so here it is.**** ]**

* * *

"You'll do," a female voice says.

Renji's feet thump to the floor as the chair across from him is yanked away and a girl with hair a similar colour to his own plops down on it. He recognises her, he thinks. She's in Ichigo's class – his own class, he guesses, since he's supposed to be student here too. He wishes he wasn't. This is all turning into a stupid waste of time. Since that first night, there hasn't been a sniff of an arrancar, Espada or otherwise.

"Ya want something?" he asks.

She smiles at him, too wide and too toothily. Light glints across red-framed glasses, hiding her eyes completely, and it's enough to make Renji sit up straight and take notice. He recognises the signs. This is a woman with a mission.

"Feet," she says, like that makes sense, then adds, "Naked feet."

He stares at her, blinking in confusion. Is this some strange kind of living world courtship thing, 'cause he doesn't remember Rukia saying anything if it is. "Naked?" he asks, just to clarify.

Under the desk, his toes curl as she glances down, eyes narrowing and lips pulling into an unhappy moue. "You got a problem with that?" she asks and when he doesn't immediately answer, she continues, "Is there something wrong with them? Fungus? Ingrowing toenails?"

"No!" Renji snaps defensively and fights the urge to tuck his legs under his chair. He looks after his feet, always has done. It's one of the first lessons Yumichika drummed into him at the 11th. A good soldier always takes care of the feet that carry him into battle. Plus he has a thing for doing pedicures and Ikkaku won't sit still long enough.

"Bunions?"

Renji's lip curls and he growls softly.

She holds up her hand. "Okay, geez, don't get your boxers in a bunch," she says and sits back with a huff. Arms folded across her chest and glaring, she doesn't look like she's leaving any time soon. Renji goes back to his manga and does his best to ignore her.

It's not easy. Even as silence falls, it's only on the outside. Inside, the question swirls in Renji's mind making it hard to concentrate. Why is this girl so hung up on his naked feet? He doesn't think it's a fetish thing. For one, she seems more into girls than guys, as far as he remembers, so why? Why would she want to look at his naked feet.

Finally, when he realises he's read the same page three times and still hasn't a clue what anyone's said, he slams the manga down and says, "Why?"

Her chin, which had been resting on her chest, lifts and she looks him right in the eye. She's got a confidence a lot of the other girls in the school lack, he notices. Only spiky-haired Arisawa comes close and she's too like Rukia to be anything but scary.

"It's for art," she says, arms still crossed and her mouth's a flat line of defiance. Maybe still a bit defensive then. More Hinamori on a mission than Matsumoto avoiding paperwork. "The teacher's given us an assignment. We have to draw something in our lives that's ugly."

Oo-kay, well that explained the defensive. Not everyone's gonna like being told their feet are ugly.

Before Renji can tell her to get lost, the girl sits up and slams her hands on the table top. "Don't look like that! It's an important decision! I can't draw just anything."

He frowns in confusion but she's still going, "See, first I thought I'd draw Kurosaki's face, 'cause he's got a really ugly face, but that'd upset Orihime, and I never want to upset Orihime." Her gaze softens and she props her chin on her hand. As she stares past Renji, he can virtually see the hearts in her eyes. They're the same as the ones in Inoue's when she looks at Ichigo, and it makes Renji remember how young they all are.

Doesn't make him any less pissed about his feet though.

"…" he begins, only for her to snap back to reality with, "Then I thought, what about the new transfer student, the bald one, 'cause he's really ugly." Ikkaku presumably. "Or maybe his friend with the weird eyebrows." She gestures to her own as Renji flinches at the idea of Yumichika ever finding out about this conversation. No-one would ever find the body.

But the girl doesn't stop there. She leans forward, voice dropping to just above a whisper and says, "Y'know, I think there's something going on with them."

Depends what you define as 'something', Renji thinks a bit panicky with the way the conversation is swirling around. He overheard a hell of a lot of somethings between them when he was in the 11th, but he's not sure he should be talking about it with a high school student. Especially not a girl.

Renji's still floundering for an answer when she continues, "They look way too old for high school students. I think they're undercover police trying to infiltrate drug gangs." Her expression hardens into seriousness. "You'll see, they might be all friendly with Kurosaki now, but in another couple of weeks they'll arrest him for whatever he's taking that makes him pass out all the time and kiss girls without asking. Pervert."

Coming from her, that was a bit rich. Renji's seen the way she gropes Orihime and he's pretty sure Orihime's not asking for it. Still, as she carries on talking about Ichigo and drugs and then about how she decided that feet in general were ugly, and so were guys, so it stood to reason a guy like Renji would have really ugly feet, he realises something.

The ugliest thing this kid can imagine in her life is Renji's feet. That's profound.

He thinks back at all the ugliness he's seen in his life. The despair on the streets of Inuzuri. Hinamori's still form in the hospital bed and Kira's tears. The faces of the traitors as they rose into the sky, and Rukia's when she was about to die. Now that's ugliness, and if feet are the ugliest thing this little girl can think of to draw, then maybe all of this sitting on his ass and pretending to be a school kid is worth while. Because if Aizen has his way, this world will end and Chizuru'll see nothing but ugliness and pain and horror ever again. It puts having his feet called ugly into perspective somehow.

So, slipping off his shoes, he swings one leg up onto the table and wiggles his bare toes right under her unsuspecting nose. She squeaks and jumps back looking horrified. Renji buries his grin in the manga he's reading and huffs a laugh. "Ya wanted naked feet, lady, you got 'em. Knock yerself out."


End file.
